$50K WSOP HORSE Tourney

[NickMPK]

For those who think Razz televised well, notice that ESPN didn't show the Razz tournament last year, and there must be a reason. Probably because it didn't get good ratings, even with a table full of marketable players. Also notice that the one Razz show never makes to onto the ESPN2 or ESPN Classic repeats, except for very occasionally at 3 am.

I would personally like to see more non-Hold-em games on TV. I loved the Razz show! But just because you can come up with an advertising hook doesn't mean it will succeed. People like watching NLHE, and for good reason. People don't tune in to poker to be confused. The tune in for the high drama of the big bluff and the all-ins. Those don't happen in limit games.

The mission of ESPN is to get good ratings by putting on shows that people want to watch. It is not to educate people about obscure games that they won't even really understand by watching for a few minutes on TV anyway.

[dmk]

OK, so no offense to everyone, but you guys are the only ones I've seen that don't like this structure. I haven't read a single comment from a player likely to play in this event that has a problem w/ a NLHE final table. In fact, I've read in a couple of places that this is common place amongst rotation tournaments.

So stop trying to look out for the players' "best interest" when, in fact, those who are playing in the event don't have a problem w/ it. I plan on playing, and I think it is setup perfectly fine.

[SossMan]

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Also don't forget that ESPN is a high light reel not a broadcast of every hand. What is distilled down from a full day of play could very much appear to be a different game on each hand or you might not see any of a certain type of game. If the final table is edited to fit in a one hour time slot (only about 30 minutes of action after accounting for commercials, puff pieces, the Nuts and the Degree All In Moment) then you will only see a few hands and those will mostly be where a player busts out.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is a great point. did everyone miss this??

[LPY2005]

This tournament is set up for the high stakes professionals. I know there have been a lot of complaints by some of the top guys that the WSoP has become too much about Holdem and there are less and less big buy-in tournaments for other forms of poker. A lot of other pros have suggested raising the main event buy-in to 25K to make the field smaller. This event addresses a lot of those complaints. I think this will be a great event and will crown pokers true champion for that year. A true champion should be great at all forms of poker, not just holdem. This will be a better test of skill than any other event at the WSoP. Every top player would play this event for bragging rights alone.

Even though the experience of the pros with be a huge advantage I don't agree that the players that win their seat through satellites will be dead money. There is a lot more dead money in Holdem because that's what everyone sees on TV. The amatures that play this event will be more skilled than the average amature. People that learn poker from watching TV don't play HORSE. I can't wait. Definitely a step in the right direction for the WSoP.